The Title of the Lector Priest as a Component of the “Tomb Owner – Scene” System in the Egyptian Private Tomb of the Old Kingdom
Kulikov Fedor I.
This paper considers the functioning mechanism of the Egyptian private tomb of the Old Kingdom as a system of architectural and pictorial components. It argues that the large images of the nobleman with the mention of the lector priest title, as well as his images pictorially representing him as a lector priest, mark the main venues of the regular priestly service in the tomb – at the entrance, in the passage from one room to another, between the columns, in front of the serdab, and at the false door. The inclusion of the title of lector priest in the titulary of the tomb owner can be explained not by his lifetime status, but by the desire of the master to properly structure the architectural and graphic space of the tomb. Like the attributes in the hands of the tomb owner, the title of the lector priest provided the large images of the nobleman with an additional function of carrying out the priestly service and can be considered as one of the important components of the private tomb system.
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